political pandering

Seriously, does this man even have a clue? Here he is in Iowa using taxpayer money to, well, drive the price of meat up to consumers and, of course, buy the votes of farmers:

President Barack Obama, campaigning in Iowa today, announced $170 million in government meat purchases to help farmers struck by drought, helping to send hog prices to a one-week high.

The purchase of as much as $100 million of pork, $50 million of chicken, and $10 million each of lamb and catfish come on top of $30 million in assistance announced last week. Farmers and ranchers are struggling with the worst combination of heat and dryness since the 1950s, the administration said.

Obama said he also directed the Defense Department to speed up purchases and hold the meat for later use. The buying will help farmers, and the government will get a better price on products than if they were bought later, he said.

Now what do those pesky economic laws of supply and demand say? That’s right, price adjusts to supply. More supply, prices normally go down. Less supply, higher price.

And you naysayers trying to wave this off:

Hog futures rose today following the government announcement, Smith said. The October contract climbed as much as 2.7 percent to 77.6 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the highest price in a week. Cattle gained as much as 0.9 percent.

So, anyone? What will be the result of a massive meat buy by the United States Government? See above.